1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cassette loading apparatus for a video cassette recorder having a front loading system, more particularly to an apparatus for placing the video cassette holder having the cassette in it on the deck and pulling out the video tape from the cassette to be loaded on the upper drum of the video cassette recorder (hereinafter called the VCR).
2. Discussion of the Background
A VCR having a conventional front loading system is usually equipped with a device designed to safely place on the deck the cassette holder holding the video cassette in it and a device designed to pull out the video tape from the said cassette for loading, wherein the two devices are operated by two different motors.
As the cassette holder placing and tape loading as discussed above must be made within a certain interval of time but without interruption, the construction of the loading system ordinarily requires two motors, two different sets of transmission gears, a limit switch, etc., thereby contributing to increased production cost and constituting an obstacle to miniaturization of the VCR itself.
Further, the tape loading and reproducing operations of the VCR can be normally accomplished only when the cassette holder, placed safely on the deck, is properly locked so as not to shake or sway. However, the conventional VCR has the defect that the cassette holder placed on the deck is apt to be excessively pressed under the influence of the motor""s inertia and as a result, the parts of the VCR are deformed or damaged.
The present invention is intended to obviate these and other problems of the conventional system.
Accordingly, it is a particular object of the present invention to provide a new front loading system for a VCR in which safe cassette holder placing and tape loading are achieved by using only one motor.
Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to manufacture a smaller size of VCR by providing a video cassette loading system of reduced size.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system in which the cassette holder, placed safely on the deck, is properly locked so as not to deform or damage the other parts of the VCR.
These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, a motor installed on a wall of the cassette housing operates a placement gear and a rotating member for safely placing the cassette holder on the deck, and then the video tape is loaded on the upper drum for reproduction according to the movement of two loading poles resulting from rotating a ring gear which is operated by a sector gear interlocked with a master cam that is installed at the bottom of the deck, thereby making it possible that both actions to place the cassette holder safely on the deck and to load the tape for reproduction can be achieved consecutively by using only one motor, wherein the cassette holder may not be pressed excessively after being placed on the deck because the rotating member which locks the interlocking pin of the cassette holder comes to a standstill even though the said placement gear rotates further under the influence of the motor""s inertia. A combination of a sector gear and a cam or a disc with a built-in spring can also be used in order to lock the cassette holder properly after the cassette holder, holding the cassette in it, is placed on the deck.